United we aren’t…
I have been asking myself why Qantas is so selfish and stingy, not allowing Singapore Airlines to fly the Sydney - Los Angeles - Sydney route. The “Wheatbag” Johnny government yesterday said “No!” to the proposal because they want Qantas to maintain high, uncompetitive, unaffordable fares to and fro the U.S. (North America).

The Australia government is obviously scared the prices on this most lucrative route will drop to an “affordable” passenger level. Singapore Airlines management has vowed to keep up the decade-long fight to get an open skies agreement with Qantas, as well as amend parts of the Qantas Sale Act that would allow Qantas to become 100 per cent foreign-owned.

I have my doubts...
Sometime around July, another 200 of our young, professional soldiers are to be sent to Afghanistan, supposedly to help in reconstruction efforts as part of a provincial reconstruction team (PRT), aiding the Dutch contingent.

If I have my arithmetic figures correct that means we have around 500 troops in support roles in Afghanistan. All this in an effort to get rid of the Taliban.

Question: If coalition forces capture, kill and disband the Taliban in Afghanistan (hopefully!) does that mean all our boys and girls in uniform get to come home?

Answer: Of course not! “Wheatbag” Johnny would, of course, find another excuse for keeping them there. What are you, STUPID?

Home Sweet Home…
Jennifer Aniston will is to assume “sole ownership” of a $29 U.S. million Beverly Hills mansion in a $60 U.S. million settlement of divorce from Brad Pitt and retain a small percentage of Plan B Productions, a film company started by Brad and Jen in happier days, that has actually made some fairly good films, including Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

For more information on what is happening in Tinsel-Town go to http://www. IMDB.com, one of America’s best on-line sources for Hollywood information.

Microsoft puts Chinese Yuan above freedom of expression…
Last summer (northern hemisphere) a blogger named Anti (real name Zhao Jing) moved his blog site to Microsoft's popular MSN. Some people worried the Chinese government would block the entire service as the censors had blacklisted the last site where the young journalist had posted his spirited political essays and seemed unwilling to tone down his writing at his new blog site.

Zhao Jing actually predicted that Microsoft would sell him out to the Chinese authorities and delete his blog rather than risk being blocked from computer screens across China, and he was right.

“Four and a half months after he began posting essays challenging the Communist Party's taboo against discussing politics, Zhao published an item protesting the purge of a popular newspaper's top editors. Officials called Microsoft to complain, and Microsoft quickly erased his blog.” according to the Washington Post.

Bloggers around the world were outraged, some congressional members vowed to take a closer look at how American firms help the government of China censor internet privileges.

Okay, so some people are beating their drums very loudly, but really, what good will making all that noise do to influence a Dictatorial Communistic regime to change its tune?

Some trivia for you - 1 Chinese Yuan = $0.124264 U.S. dollars (approximately)

Hey, here’s a thought…

The newly elected Hamas Government in Palestine has virtually been cut off financially from the rest of the world, the exception being some Islamic states.

My thought is, since Iran can afford to buy nuclear technology and has the money to continue fission research, why not let the Iranian government finance the Hamas led government of Palestine.

The western world, including Israel, certainly doesn’t want anything to do with this terrorist based organisation. Why not let them stew in their own cesspool of violence and hatred and let’s see if they are happy without western technology.

Some of the western products and technology Hamas currently enjoy are: Motor vehicles, televisions, radios, just to name a few. How would they survive without them? People never really appreciate what they have until it is removed.

Our Kylie is leaving the nest to form one of her own…Have you heard, Oz’s own Kyle’s is (reportedly) planning to get hitched to her French actor boyfriend Olivier Martinez on French Island (located just off the coast of Melbourne) in Australia, sometime in April.

Australian rag New Idea magazine has apparently heard form Ollie’s mum about the forthcoming wedding of 37 year old Kylie and 40 year old Ollie. She says Ollie has promised to fly them over to Aussie-land for the happy event.

Kyle’s mum and dad own a property on French Island.

After suffering from breast cancer Minogue is on the road to recovery and is also speaking with her manager about resuming her interrupted world tour sometime next year.